What is stormwater?  Stormwater is water from rain, snow, sleet or hail that flows across the ground and pavement.  Typically, soil, vegetation, trees, and undisturbed areas can absorb a portion of stormwater.  However, areas with impervious surfaces, such as concrete, asphalt, and brick, prevent water from infiltrating into the soil.  This results in water flowing across these impervious surfaces.  Roads, parking lots, sidewalks, etc. are all examples of surfaces that contribute to stormwater runoff.

What is the storm drain system? Stormwater that does not seep into the ground will flow into the storm drainage system.  The storm drainage system consists of the drains that you see at street corners, inlet structures within yards or open spaces and ditches within a development.  These connected drains and ditches may travel for miles before directly entering creeks, streams, and our very own Lake Wylie.   The storm drain system, unlike the sanitary sewer system (water from our showers and toilets), does NOT have a mechanism for treating the water before it is discharged directly into our local water ways.  In other words, whatever goes into the storm drainage system, goes into our streams, creeks, rivers and lakes!

How does stormwater become polluted?  As the stormwater flows across the ground, it can become contaminated with debris, chemicals, dirt and other pollutants.  Once these pollutants are picked up, they are transported to a storm drain or ditch.  These storm drains discharge directly into our creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes.  Since our waterways are interconnected, that means that stormwater pollution up stream can potentially contaminate waterways many, many miles downstream.